Fluting machine



1942- 4 w. TJMAXANT v 2,304,005

FLUTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 12, 1939 Z Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 1, 1942. w.T. MAXANT, I 2,304,005

FLUTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 12, 1959 2 Sheets-$heet 2 7 Patented Dec. 1,1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC 2,304,005 FLUT ING MACHINE William T.Maxant, Ayer, Mass.

Application September 12, 1939, Serial No. 294,559

7 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in fiuting machines, and moreparticularly, to machines for fluting or crimping the edges of ruffledcurtains, fiounces and dress trimmings, and other fabrics and materialswhere a crimping or fluting effect is desirable. The machine is of theopenend type, whereby the rufile or dress trimming can be flutedconveniently without removing it from the curtain or garment to which itis applied.

Fluting machines that have been made and used heretofore have containednumerous disadvantages and objections, particularly in the mounting andthe locking of the fiuting rollers, which were not capable of readyadjustment or replacement without great inconvenience and without dangerof injury to or burning of the hands of the workmen.

The object of this invention is to improve the construction of thefiuting machine, to provide a quick-lift for separating the rollers whenit is desired to feed the material thereto or remove the materialtherefrom, controlled by one hand of the operator, without danger ofburning; to provide for the adjustment of the tension on the rollers ina simple and effective manner without danger of burning of the hands ofthe workmen; to simplify and improve the manner of changing the rollersby opening up the top roller support without danger to the workmen, andto provide simple and efiective guards for the respective rollers whichwill protect the same from the material except at the meeting edges ofthe rollers and which eliminate danger to the hands of the workmen.

In carrying out this object of the invention and to incorporate theseprincipal new features, I have embodied the invention in a preferredform thereof, which is illustrated in the accompanying rawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved fluting machine;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View therethrough on the line 33 of Fig.1;

Fig. 4 is a partial longitudinal sectional view, substantially on theline l l of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail Vertical section showing the roller mountings; and

Fig. 6 is a detail section through one of the top roller journals.

interfit with each other and to form the desired flutes or crimps inmaterial passed therebetween.

The bottom roller 3 is mounted in a yoke '4 secured upon one end portionof the base l- The roller 3 has a journal 5 projecting outwardly fromthe outer end of said roller, while its inner end has an inwardlyextending stub shaft ii fixed thereto. The journal 5 is mounted in apair of laterally spaced rolls 1 secured to the inner faceof one side ofthe yoke A, while the stub shaft 6 is similarly mounted in a pair ofrolls 8 secured to the inner face of the opposite side of the yoke 4'.The roller 3 and its supporting journals rest freely upon the rolls 1and 8 so that the roller 3 is capable of ready removal therefrom when itis desired to change the roller to one of a different; size or depth ofcrimp.

For supporting the top roller 2, a standard 9 is secured upon the base iadjacent the inner ends of the rollers 2 and 3. The standard 9 ispreferably of cast metal, such as cast iron or aluminum, and is hollow,terminating at its upper end in an integral laterally extending hollowsupporting arm l0 which extends substantially parallel with the toproller 2 beside the same, to a point adjacent the middle of the roller.At its outer end, the supporting arm l0 carries a laterally extendingbracket ll, preferably cast integrally therewith or secured thereto andwhich bracket H extends in the opposite direction from the supportingarm 10 from the position of the upper roller 2, as shown in Fig. 3.

The top roller 2 is carried by a supporting frame l2 which extendslongitudinally over the top roller 2 and has downturned opposite ends 13embracing the ends of the roller. The roller 2 has journals It atopposite ends thereof which bear upwardly against a pair of rolls [5(Fig. 5) for rotary movement, one of the journals M being mounted in abushing M in the frame end [3. The journals M are held against therollers 15 by clips I6 which underlie the journals M, and which clipsare detachably secured by screws I! to the respective downturned ends 3.The fluting roller 2 may be removed from the supporting frame I2 uponremoval of. the clips [-6 which allows the fiuting. roller to drop outof the frame forreadyreplacement.

The supporting frame [2 preferably has a frame arm IB cast integrallytherewith and extending laterally therefrom in overlapping relation withthe bracket II, to the outer end of which said frame arm H3 is pivotedat [9 for lateral swinging movement of the supporting frame l2 with thetop roller 2 to a raised or inverted position when desired.

For holding the supporting frame l2 at its lower position, as well asfor applying tension thereto, I have provided a screw 20 which extendsloosely through an orifice 2| in the frame arm l8, and has a hand knob22 on the upper end thereof. The lower end portion of the screw 20 isthreaded at 23 to engage in a threaded orifice in a lug 24 that extendslaterally from and is secured upon the end portion of the supporting armH). A coiled spring 25 is sleeved upon the screw 20 and is interposedbetween the knob 22 and the frame arm I8, normally tending to applyspring tension to said arm to force the supporting frame I 2 and toproller 2 downward, with said top roller bearing resiliently upon thebottom roller 3.

The frame [2 may swing about the pivot IS! in moving in response to thespring 25, and upon unscrewing the screw 20 from the lug 24, thesupporting frame l2 may be lifted back to its retracted position withthe rollers separated from each other. Thus one screw connection isprovided both to adjust the tension of the top roller and to control themovement of the top roller to its inoperative or retracted position whenit is desired to remove or replace the rollers; and this screwconnection is located sufficiently remote from the top roller that it isnot substantially affected by the heat thereof so as to cause danger ofburning of the fingers of the workmen in making the adjustment. To holdthe screw 20 againstseparation from the frame arm l8 when said screw isdetached from the lug 24, a washer 26 is sleeved on the screw 20 beneaththe arm I8 and is held in place by a cotter pin 21 that passes through ascrew 20.

Provision is made for lifting the top roller 2 to separate it from thebottom roller 3, particularly when material is fed therebetween orremoved and without the necessity for changing the tension of the spring25 by removing the screw 20. This is accomplished by what is termed aquick-lift of the top roller to raise it slightly from the bottom rollersufficiently for the feed of the material; and this may be done by onehand of the operator while he holds the material with the other hand.

To accomplish this result, I have provided a bell-crank lever 28 housedwithin the hollow standard 9 and supporting arm l and pivoted to thelatter at 29. One end portion of the bellcrank lever 28 carries abearing screw 30 in position to engage a bearing pin 3| slidablyreceived in an orifice 32 in the end portion of the supporting arm ID.The bearing pin 3| projects upwardly from the bearing screw 30 andpresses against the under side of the frame arm l8 tending to raise saidframe arm when the pin 3| is pushed upwardly and to lift the top roller2 against the tension of the spring. 25, when the bell-crank is movedfrom its full line position 24 to its dotted line position therein.

The shifting of the bell-crank lever 28 is caused by the engagement ofits opposite arm by a bearing lug 33 secured to one side of a shaft 34,as shown in Fig. 4, and which bearing lug is moved lever when the shaftis rotated in a counter-- clockwise direction as indicated in Fig. 4 orin a clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 1. The shaft 34 is joumaled inbearings in opposite sides of the standard 9 and extends forwardlytherefrom to the front of the machine, as shown in Fig. 2, where itterminates in an upturned lever portion 35 having a hand knob 36 thereonfor manipulation by one hand of the operator. Thus, by shifting thelever portion 35 from the right to the left in Fig. 1, the operator mayseparate the rollers 2 and 3 sufliciently to insert or remove thematerial therefrom.

To vary the degree to which the rollers may be brought together when themachine is operated, I have provided an adjusting screw 31 (Fig. 4)which extends into the path of the bell-crank lever 28 to limit theextent of movement of said lever when the lever arm 35 is shifted to aclosed position. For holding the screw 31 in its adjusted position, alock nut 38 is provided. Thus when a thick place or seam in the materialis reached, the operator may turn down the adjusting screw 31 which willlift the top roller sufiiciently to clear the thickness without causingthe increased pressure thereon that would result from the movement ofthe thickened portion between the rollers. This adjusting screw 31 maybe used also to accommodate the rollers to different thicknesses of thematerial by regulating the extent to which the rollers approach eachother when the lever arm is moved to its closed position.

The supporting frame I2 is provided with a downturned roller guard 39cast in one piece therewith and extending substantially throughout thelength of the top roller 2 so as to protect the latter effectively fromthe hands of the operator, against burning or injury thereto.

A guard apron 40 is provided along the bottom roller 3, being supportedon brackets 4! secured to the yoke 4. This guard apron 40 is alsopreferably of cast metal construction, such as cast iron, and terminatesin a rounded end portion 42 that extends about the end of the bottomroller 3 and guards the material from the bearings thereof as it passesthrough the rollers. It will be noted that the machine is open at itsouter end for ready passage of the material between the rollers withoutremoval of the crimped edges or ruflies from the curtain or garment, andthis guard portion 42 protects the garment or curtain from injury duringpassage of its edge portion through the machine.

The rollers may be operated by any suitable or desired means but I haveshown an electric motor 43 mounted on the base I and driving speedreducing gearing in a housing 44 through a belt operating in a guard 45.The speed reducing gearing operates a drive shaft 46 having a detachableclutch engagement with the stub shaft 6, as shown in Fig. 1, foroperating the bottom roller 3, which in turn drives the top roller 2through its interfitting .connection therewith.

The top roller 2 is adapted to be heated as by an electric coildesignated generally by the numeral 41 in Fig. 3, regulated by a controlunit of the usual character, as indicated at 48.

The machine is provided with the usual electrical controls, such as arheostat for controlling the electric motor 43 so as to adapt said motorto drive the rollers when it is desired to feed material to the machine.

The operation of the machine will be obvious from the foregoingdescription, but it may be pointed out that the rollers should be heatedfirst before being put into operation, for which purpose they are movedto their closed position by swinging the lever arm 35 to the left inFig. 1, and then closing the switch that controls the electric currentto the coil 41, which will heat the top roller, and heat will beconducted therefrom to the bottom roller sufficiently for the heating ofthe latter. Then .the rollers may be spaced by swinging the lever arm tothe right and they are ready for feeding the material therebetween.

The motor 43 is started, operating the bottom roller and after threadingthe material in the machine the rollers are again closed and thematerial is caused to feed through the machine through the operation ofthe bottom roller and is crimped or fluted according to the shape anddepth of the grooves in the rollers. In this way, the operator maycontrol the opening and closing of the rollers by one hand while holdingthe material with the other and the control lever arm is removed for thesource of heat so there is no danger of the burning of the hand of theoperator.

The material feeds over the guard apron on the bottom which effectivelyprotects the material from injury by the machine and against gettingcaught in the roller or its mounting, which is particularly important inthe fiuting of ruffles of fragile curtain material or the like.

I claim:

1. In a fiuting machine, the combination of coacting fiuting rollers, aframe carrying one of said fiuting rollers and having an arm extendinglaterally therefrom, a pivotal support for said arm, and means forlifting said frame including a lever extending approximately lengthwiseof the rollers and having an operative connection with the arm forswinging the same upward upon actuation of the lever, and a handlestructure beside the rollers operatively connected with said lever foractuating the same.

2. In a fiuting machine, the combination of coacting fiuting rollers, aframe carrying one of said fiuting rollers and having a laterallyextending arm, means pivotally supporting said arm for upward swingingmovement of the last-mentioned roller from engagement with the coactingroller, a bell-crank lever having one arm thereof in operative bearingengagement with the first-mentioned arm for swinging the same upwardly,and a shaft having operative connection with the other arm of saidbell-crank lever for actuating the same.

3. In a fiuting machine, the combination of coacting fiuting rollers, aframe carrying one of said fiuting rollers and having a laterallyextending arm, a base structure pivotally supporting said arm for upwardswinging movement of the last-mentioned roller bodily from engagementwith the coacting roller, a pin guided in the base structure andengaging the arm for moving the same, a bell-crank lever pivoted on thebase structure and having one end portion thereof bearing against thepin for moving the same, a shaft having operative bearing engagementwith the opposite end portion of the bell-crank lever, said shaftextending transversely of the rollers beside the same, and a handleconnected with the shaft for actuating the same.

4. In a fiuting machine, the combination of a base structure, coactingfiuting rollers, one of said rollers being mounted on the basestructure, a frame carrying the other coacting roller, an arm connectedwith said frame and mounting the same for upward swinging movement, amember operatively connected with said arm and having detachableconnection with the base structure normally tending to hold the frameand its roller in operative position, and resilient means connected withsaid member and bearing against the frame independently of theconnection between the member and the arm and normally tending to holdthe rollers in coacting engagement.

5. In a fiuting machine, the combination of a base structure, coactingfiuting rollers, means mounting one of the rollers on the basestructure, a frame carrying the other coacting roller and having alaterally extending arm pivotally supported on the base structure, ascrew extending through the arm and having detachable engagement withthe base structure, and a spring connected with the screw and havingbearing engagement with the frame tending to hold the rollers inengagement.

6. In a fiuting machine, the combination of a base structure, coactingfiuting rollers, means mounting one of said rollers on the basestructure, a. frame carrying the other coacting roller and having alaterally extending arm connected therewith and pivoted to the basestructure, a screw extending through said arm and'jhaving detachableengagement with the base structure, and a coiled spring sleeved on saidscrew and interposed between the head thereof and the frame normallytending to hold the rollers in coacting engagement.

7. In a fiuting machine, the combination of coacting fiuting rollers, aframe carrying one of said fiuting rollers and having an arm extendinglaterally therefrom, a pivotal support for said arm, means for liftingsaid frame including a lever extending approximately lengthwise of therollers and having an operative connection with the arm for swinging thesame upward upon actuation of the lever, and a handle structure besidethe rollers operatively connected with said lever for actuating thesame, and an adjustable stop in the path of movement of the lever forlimiting the extent of approach of the framesupported roller relative tothe coacting roller.

WILLIAM T. MAXANT.

